Tuesday, September 29

I had the opportunity to interact with a Berkeley Admit {Bhavin Parikh} and i would like to share the finer points of our conversation with all my fellow bloggers. Bhavin scored in the 99th percentile in GMAT and applied to Wharton, Haas and Stanford. This information will be extremely useful for all the applicants who are planning to apply to Haas. Also, Bhavin is a co-founder of "GMAT preparation site Magoosh" {"Magoosh - a play on the Old Persian word "magush" meaning "one who is highly learned, wise, and generous."}. As of now, Magoosh offers Quant preparation at a killer price {INR 499/- or approx $12}. Below is the transcript, read on:

Braveheart: Bhavin, to which all schools you applied? and why you chose Haas ?

bkparikh: I applied to Wharton, Stanford, and Haas.
I had been living in Philadelphia at the time, which was the primary reason I applied to Wharton. However, the school was not a good fit for me. I prefer a smaller class size, And I was heavily interested in technology.

Braveheart: so Haas is good for people who intend to pursue career in technology? How about the scope of strategy or Finance at Haas?

bkparikh: being close to Silicon Valley, Haas is definitely good for technology. But many students come here pursuing finance, strategy, consulting and marketing opportunites as well.
While Haas may not be as focused in Finance or Marketing as some other schools, the school does provide resources to help students succeed. Especially if they want to stay in the California area after graduation

Braveheart: but do Management Consulting/ Finance firms recruit in same proportion at Haas as they do at Chicago or Kellogg?

bkparikh: To be honest, I don't know the levels of recruitment of those schools. However, I know that last year 7% of our class came from Deloitte Consulting, most from a management consulting role So Haas does bring in mgmt consultants and also sends out mgmt consultants

Braveheart: coming back to app process :) .. What are the factors that an applicant should keep in mind while applying to a b-school?

bkparikh: Ah, good question!

I sometimes think applicants, including myself, place too much emphasis on the GMAT

Braveheart: you are bang on...

bkparikh: the GMAT is important, however it is not the only factor. Many applicants who score 750+ still do not get into top schools while other who are below 700 do get in

The most important component of the application is your "story" meaning...why at this point in your life do you want to go to business school, and why is the particular school you are applying to the best fit for you. All your essays, short answer questions, work history, and interview are part of your story it needs to make sense

Braveheart: absolutely...

bkparikh: to add a little moreI also believe if you can show that you have a unique experience that others can learn from, that will help you. b-school is much different that undergraduate in that you often learn more from your classmates experiences than you learn at your classes

Braveheart: makes sense.. so, how one should approach the essays? should the essays be tackled while keeping the adcom in mind i.e what is it that adcom wants to hear or would you suggest applicants to be themselves...?

bkparikh: The applicants should be themselves.

When I applied to Haas, I was myself. And the school made sense for me.

If an applicant knows why he/she wants to go to bschool, he/she should just write the story. It will be more genuine and the adcom can see that

Braveheart: Can you please share the interview experience at Haas?and how was it different from that at other b-schools?

bkparikh: I only interviewed at Haas and Wharton. I traveled from Philadelphia to Berkeley for the Haas interview, even though I had the option of interviewing off-campus. For me, it was important to come to the school since I had never been there before.

I was interviewed by a 1st year student.This also signalled something to me...that the student opinion really matters and that the community is very student-driven

Braveheart: right..

bkparikh: Anyway, he had no knowledge of my essays. He just asked about why I wanted to come to Haas and asked about my prior experiences in difficult situations, being a leader and some personal questions I was quite nervous, but the interviewer actually put me at ease made it more like a conversation than an interview

Braveheart: and do they ask the same typical questions like why MBA? why Haas? or were there any surprises for you?

bkparikh: There were no big surprises, they asked the typical questions. But because I was myself in my essays, I felt comfortable being myself in the interview knowing that my story would be consistent which I believe is very important

Braveheart: and there is only one round of interview or multiple rounds?

bkparikh: I only had 1 round

For Haas, it depends on when you interviewFor instance if you apply in round 1 or 2, I believe you have multiple interviews on the same dayI was round 3, for which the process is a bit different

Braveheart: ok..thats interesting... Any special advise to future applicants for tackling the Haas interview? {apart from presenting your trueself ...}

bkparikh: (1) Like I said before, have a good story about why b-school at this time and why this particular school, you'll need to be your trueself because the adcom can see that

(2) Learn as much as you can about the school. All the extra activities, etc... Think about what activities you would take part in if you were a student and bring those out

(3) Don't be afraid to bring in your personal life if it helps with your story. My fiance was living in Hawaii and I was in Philadelphia. So Berkeley made sense because we could both move closer to each other

Braveheart: Any word of caution for Indian applicants {I think it is one of the most competitive group}?

bkparikh: Bring out your personality. Why are you different from another Indian applicant? What unique experiences do you have? Don't force it or lie just reflect and find out what makes you unique

Braveheart: How would you describe your experience at Haas? What is the learning model at Haas? How is the faculty? What %age of work/assignments are done in teams?

bkparikh: My experience has been amazing! I have met a great group of friends. The culture is very student-driven, so the students have a lot of responsibility but can also make a lot of things happen

The small class size 240 students enables everyone to know each other at some level fostering a great sense of community.

Tying into the learning experience...the collaborative aspect of the student body helps everyone learn. Everyone is always willing to help each other even though classes on graded on a curve. Students care more about helping each other than about their grades

For example, I had a classmates who waived out of the core Accounting class because she was an accountant. But she still helped me when I had questions on my homework

And I helped her in classes like Statistics and Economics

Braveheart: that sounds like a great student body..

bkparikh: It is! I honestly cannot say enough good things about it

They even welcome partners of students (like my fiance) making her feel like part of the community

Braveheart: Thats a great news for applicants with partners...

bkparikh: The classes are a combination of case and lecture. You can learn from specific case examples but also learn general theory from lectures

The first semester is very busy, with classwork, networking, recruiting for summer internships etc...It is really a lesson in prioritization and time management

You can't do everything so you must figure out what is most important to you

Much of the work early on is done in teams. Your team is assigned by the school. Usually to be quite diverse. Teams of 5 (typically 1-2 females and 1-2 international students per team)

Braveheart: and you work in a single team for entire semester or you get to be a part of different teams for different subjects?

bkparikh: for the first semester you work in a single team but afterwards you get to work in different teams for different subjects

Braveheart: How do you find the alum community at Haas?

bkparikh: I would need to check to be 100% sure but I believe most Haas alums remain in the California area at first. That being said, they are extremely helpful
You can reach out to them and they typically respond quickly and are willing to talk with youBraveheart: and do they also offer support when it comes to recruitment?

bkparikh: I believe part of this is because the class size is small so you build closer bonds to the school than you may otherwise yes they do,

many come back to campus and talk with students or advocate for Haas students to be hired

in fact last year during the recession, our Dean sent a message to the alums asking for help in job openings and many responded within a day providing openings at their companies

One concrete example is that a former alum from Google sent an opening to Haas directly and to no other schools

Braveheart: Any idea as to how easy it is for a student to switch careers post an MBA from haas? Say can a person from manufacturing or IT enter consulting/finance?

bkparikh: It is possible but not easy. To switch careers requires a lot of work on the students' sides to prove to the company that they are truly knowledgeable and interestd in that space however, the career services office does provide a lot of support and as a student, you can get involved in your new interest in many ways but you must definitely work at it

Braveheart: one thing that you would like to change at Haas?"

bkparikh: wow, good question

Braveheart: :)thanks

bkparikh: I would like for Haas' brand to be more widely recognized. Haas consistently ranks very high in the MBA rankings but does not have the national brand of some other top schools

Braveheart: you are spot on...

bkparikh: Haas has a great brand on the West Coast, but for someone like me who has family on the east it would help

Braveheart: thanks a lot for sharing your experience at Haas.... You have started a GMAT prep company, tell us more about that..

bkparikh: I am working with 2 Haas classmates, and one other individual on the site. We feel that there's a gap in the market right now. Classes (whether in person or online) are very expensive, running hundreds or thousands of dollars

Books, while cheaper, do not provide any level of personalized instruction

We are trying to provide some level of personalized instruction and metrics at roughly the cost of a book

The site is still in its infancy, with only GMAT Quant right now. We have plans to expand to GMAT Verbal and GRE in the near future

Braveheart: You have already shared the USP of Magoosh ... can you please tell us by when do you plan to launch verbal prep section?

Any tentative deadline as to when the verbal section would be up and running?

bkparikh: Ideally the verbal content would be up by the end of October

Braveheart: And would the cost of verbal prep be same as that of quant prep? {499 INR/-}

bkparikh: At first, we may provide verbal for a free trial

we haven't finalized the cost yet after that

Braveheart: Would you like to throw some light on video explanation feature of Magoosh?

bkparikh: Yes. We and our expert tutors believe videos provide a better way for students to learn than just reading text. We do recognize that some videos go into a lot of detail that many students may not need. But the goal is to help all students. The more advanced ones can skip over the videos while the less advanced students get the benefit of a very detailed explanation

The videos are also created to help students learn general concepts from one question that they can apply to another question

Braveheart: Any comments on Quant faculty at Magoosh? Like Manhattan and Kaplan always boast of 99percentile tutors

bkparikh: All of our quant content is currently provided by one tutor who is 99th percentile scorer

Braveheart: I personally belive GMAT score is not reflective of one's teaching capability but still in order to market your brand you have to boast ...

bkparikh: he also used to be a featured expert on beatthegmat.

we also believe that your score is not reflective of your teaching ability. so we sought out a tutor that has a high score and a lot of teaching experience he has taught for over 7 years and has worked at a large test prep company

in addition, we plan to continually focus on 99th percentile tutors. However, because we may get only verbal content from a given tutor and math from another...its more important that the tutor is strong in that respective subject than being strong overall

Braveheart: How you and your team mates come into picture? Do you also plan to take some sessions or you are involved only in technology and financing part of this project?

bkparikh: We do not create the content. However the four of us, having scored very well, are willing to share our GMAT prep experiences. We do review the content.

Monday, September 28

The ads that i see in the newspaper or on the TV are superbly exploiting the human psychology. I am not an expert in the field of marketing but after analyzing few of the advertisements across industries i feel the advertisements these days can be divided into 2 broad categories based upon the sexes.

The difference in the structure of Male and Female brains primarily drives the advertising. Just check out the basic structures of Male and Female brains in the pic below:

I won't touch upon the circuitry of the female brain but i am eligible to comment on the Male circuitry. I believe Tv is wrongly shown as the centre of male brain. The more appropriate structure of male brain should be as follows:

Now, this is called "THE FOCUS". The pic above exemplifies the thoughts {thoughts? i can only see a single thought} that are going on in the male brain. Advertisement agencies are aware of the huge imbalance between male and female brains and thats why there are two categories of advertisements: ads for men and ads for women.

In this article i will only write about the first category of the ads i.e ads for men. The advertisment for deodorant looks more like an ad for aphrodisiac. You don't believe me, check-out the following links:

Who cares whether Axe removes the odor or not but it will drive women crazy. And many of my friends {i dont use a deodorant} bought bottles after bottles of Axe and many other deos but they are still single. Check out ads of other deos:

Wild stone -- does it removes odor or drives women horny ... am still to figure it out

You can also check out the ads of Park Avenue, Denver or for that matter any other deo and i am sure you might be confused at first whether the ad is of deo or a condom or an aphrodisiac.

For most part of the ad only the girl is shown as if you get a car free with this gal. No need to mention features, fuel economy etc of the car. Simply show that you will drive chics mad if you buy this car

Finally, i came across one ad in the newspaper about GMAT preparation company. The ad had a headline that read: " OUR ENGLISH TEACHER" followed by a sensual lady's pic. Nice ad for drawing guys to your prep centre. Nowhere did the ad talked about credentials of the teachers or the course content.

The list is endless.. you can watch ads for jeans, chocolate, burger, LCD panels and you will find all of them based on a single theme... hats off to ad makers .... for only they can project an underwear as an aphrodisiac...

Saturday, September 26

The new ad campaign of Idea cellular service has the punchline which says "Walk when you talk". This idea is really cool and for the same reason the compounder in the ad-campaign compliments the doctor played by Aishwarya Rai's Husband {forgot his name, he is Amitabh Bachan's son} by saying "What an Idea sir ji!" {"or read it as "What an Idea sir"}. But after today's Physiotherapy session i would start following the Mantra that says "WATCH WHEN YOU TALK" else someone will compliment me by saying "What an idiot Sir ji!"

What happened in the last physiotherapy session that i am talking in such a philosophical mood? Ok, let me share the story with all you fellow bloggers:

I go for a physiotherapy session on a daily basis to get relief from the back pain and the physiotherapist works on my back by giving an ultra-sonic massage followed by some vibratory massage and Short wave diathermia {scientific name for some special kind of heating}.

While the physiotherapist was working on my back another of his patient suffering from Tennis Elbow came to his clinic. The physio's assistance started working on his arm and the patient started talking on anything and everything. In between the Physio said "Madam is going to come" {actually the physio was asking mr Tenis Elbow "Is the Madam going to come today?"}, mr tenis elbow thought that some lady is going to come for the treatment. Unable to control his urge for talking the patient fired back "You physios have all the fun with Madams ha ha ha!" and made some funny faces.

The physio replied "Sir i am asking whether your madam i.e. your wife will be coming in for a physiotherapy session today?" Before Physio could utter anything else his assistance and I started laughing out loudly, {how can mr Tenis Elbow say something like that about his wife and the physio} and Mr tenis elbow must have felt like an idiot.

I know Physio should prepare for GMAT to avoid the awkward sentences but then mr Tenis Elbow should start following the mantra: "Watch when you Talk"

Tuesday, September 22

Manhattan SC guide is regarded as {regarded must be followed by as} the bible of SC and i have no doubt about that {can't use it here}. Summarising few of the imp concepts that i picked up while going through Adamjon's notes {these points are not mentioned in Manhattan guide}:

1. One of the {plural noun} is ---
One of the {Plural noun} THAT ARE

2.Each of the three cats is {each preceds the subject}
Three cats each are {each follows the subject}
Three cats, each of which is

3. Be on a lookout for word placement, certain words moving from one position to other can alter the intent of author:

ALL children are covered with mud
Children are ALL covered with mud

4. Known vs Unknown:

If original sentence is certain about an outcome then cross out the answer choices that indicate uncertainity:

8. Between can be used for more than two items if the relationship is one to one, however much it may be repeated with different partners. --> Dr. Sayre’s lecture recounted several little-known episodes in the relations between nations that illustrate what is wrong with alliances and treaties that do not have popular support.

9. It doesn't matter whether the subject is singular or plural after will you must use have and not has,

Will have ----

10. Not only generally calls for a later but also but But also does not necessarily calls for an earlier not only. e.g:
--> Rio de Janeiro has some of the world's most famous beaches, but it also has some of the world's most notorious slums

11. Majority should be used with countable nouns

A majority of -- plural
One half of voters -- Plural
A lot of voters -- plural

12. Regard and consider are similar in meaning. But Regard must be followed by As while consider should not be followed by as or to be.

I regard him as a friend.
I consider him a friend.

13. Do NOT USE Subjuntive in a clause begining with Until.

14. Different Than -- can be used to compare a noun and a clause. But should never be used to compare two nouns. Delhi is different than "it was 10 years ago" is correct.

15. Concerned for -- worried/anxious
Concerned with -- related to

Native to -- characterstic or species -- tigers are native to india
Native of -- birthplace -- i am a native of Jupiter

16. Due to is different from Because of.
Due to should only be used to mean caused by.
The game was postponed due to rain -- incorrect
The game's postponement was due to rain -- correct

17. Credit with -- accredited with -- edison is credited with inventing the bulb
Credit to -- give money -- The bank credited $1 million to my account {why in the hell you are writing this blog then ??}
Credit for -- Money received for -- The customer received a $20 credit for the interruption in service.

Friday, September 18

The use of colloquial language coupled with our innate ability to decipher the intended meaning are the biggest roadblocks for someone who is trying to achieve a high hit rate in SC. I find it really tough to spot the subjunctive, have problem with questions involving modifiers and being a non native speaker my ears find it hard to spot the idioms.

So, whats the way out for people like me? Practice, practice and practice. Thats the response i get from people who have either cracked the GMAT or who are GMAT instructors. Great, with all the resources handy i started practising and soon found my accuracy rate jump from 50% to approx 70-75%. Now i have hit the ceiling and hard work alone won't help me. I need to practice smarter and need to train at an altitude {no i'm not going to Himalayas, i will be practising harder problems}. But i soon figured out that solving harder problems alone won't help my cause. I need to figure out why a specific answer choice is right and why others are wrong.

Now i make a point to identify the error type in each of the answer choice. Also, i make sure to put down the reason for selecting a particular option. This habit has slowed me down a bit but i have become aware of so many fundamentals which i had been ignoring earlier. When to use -ing form of modifier, how "it, they, them" are different from subject pronouns etc. I have shortlisted Adamjon's notes /Sahil's notes and OG to get a good grasp of fundamentals. I am trying hard not to choose an option only by relying on my ears {what sounds right is not always gramatically correct}, i make sure that the option falls in one of the error category.

This habit helped me to figure out my problem areas in SC -- subjunctive/modifiers/idioms. Also, one should read the sentence in totality and try to get an understanding of author's intention. For eg:

The Lake Manyara Park in Tanzania affords the visitor with unequalled opportunities to photograph lions playing in trees without the aid of telephoto lenses.

Author intends to say that lions can be photographed without the aid of telephoto lenses but the sentence above gives an impression that lions are playing in trees withou the aid of TP lenses. {Here our mind plays the trick, it deciphers the intended meaning}

I found a useful tool in 2-3 split approach, which says that you often find answer choices where based upon the structure of sentence you can club the problems into 2 groups. Now, if you find a particular error in a group abandon all the choices falling in that group {No point in wasting time on wrong choices}. With practice it is easy to spot these 2-3 patterns and you will often find yourself struggling between 2 choices which are very close. Once you achieve this level hard work alone won't help, its time to work smarter. for e.g:

The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly from previous works.

(A) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
(B) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but were slowly evolved
(C) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
(D) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but had slowly evolved
(E) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but they were slowly evolved

A and B have sprang and C,D and E have did not spring...evolved slowly is in a and c and b and e have were slowly evolved.

Will share more of my thoughts on SC and other topics as and when i learn new fundae.

Tuesday, September 15

What a happening day it was!Booked a date with the beast in December, Finished my BD deck, Watched Del Potro beat Fedex, Rejoiced India's win over Lanka {i hope this sentence is parallel}.

So, i finally booked the date with the beast. Already feeling the kick{I screamed at my maid today for repeatedly disturbing my studies while she was trying to clean my room in the morning.} Plan to spend next seven days on SC {Basics and then hardcore practice}, once i am through with SC i will put concentrated effort on CR for 10-12 days. Plan to take a CAT post that and track the progress in SC and CR questions. Next 10 days will be devoted on honing the quant skills and every weekend i will take one CAT and track my progress. In sum, i am going to work on the basics for next 30 days or so and then devote my time entirely on CATs and working on my weak areas. I also plan to do 2 RC passages every day for next 30 days or so and post that will start doing 4 paragraphs i na single sitting. Have charted out a plan for myself and am determined to execute the same.

Later in the night i watched Del potro snatch the US open crown from Roger. As i mentioned in my earlier post on US open that Roger might bite the dust against a tough competitor. Despite of winning the first set Roger let Del potro beat him i na 5 setter. This match was quite similar to the one these two played at French open earlier this year but this time Del Potro showed why he is tipped as the next big thing. Del potro is only 20 and the quality of game that he displayed in 2009 gives a hint of another churn in the top 3 men players.

I also finished my BD deck and am relieved now for some days. Now just need to connect with the clients to sell them the ideas.

Finally, Tendulkar and Harbhajan made my day. Tendulkar played one of the finest innings of his life and Bhajji bowled well at the crucial time helping India to break the final's jinx and defeat Sri Lanka. I feel so good when India beat Lanka because the way Lankan's bowl i feel they should start playing Baseball. Their bowlers all look like{they might be not, but then it would be awful to face bowlers with such an ugly action} chuckers to me {but i am not ICC chairman so my viewpoint hardly matters}. I hope India maintains the momentum and performs well in Champions Trophy.

Wednesday, September 9

Attended the Kellogg reception yesterday, one adcom officer and 3 alums were there to guide the applicants.

1. The presentation given by adcom officer was very simple and yet impactful,
2. K is not only a marketing school but also a great place if you are interested in Strategy,
3. largest population of the class {46%) falls in the GMAT range of 700-740, {only 16% is 750 and above}
4. Kellogg focuses a lot on one's career progression, experiences and learnings
5. K students are humble and team workers
6. There's a bidding system which allows students to choose various courses in which they are interested {this was something interesting}
7. GIM -- A great program for those who want to develop a global perspective
8. All the applicants are automatically considered for scholarships and approx 75% of the class receives some kind of financial aid {varying from 15k $ to full tuition waiver}
9. Good news for international students -- No US cosigner is needed for loans, a lot of options are available to finance one's MBA
10. DEMONSTRATED LEADERSHIP -- K adcom looks for leadership potential and one has to back his/her application with examples where he/she demonstrated leadership traits
11. 100% of the class of 2010 got internship offers {not bad in such challenging times ;}
12. ITS RIGOROUS -- Adcom officer was very blunt in stating that once you land up in K you will soon get those dark circles under your eyes, if one gets 3-4 hours sleep/day then its a luxury

Lastly, the snacks were good {i had gone to the reception for this feast only :) }, some of the applicants were too smart and had done a lot of research while some were too dumb {including me}. One question post which there was a silence in the room was "why FT has ranked ISB above Kellogg".

Wednesday, September 2

We have seen Spanish b-schools breaking into top 10 in BW or FT rankings. I.E and I.E.SE both are choice of number of b-school aspirants. Till now both these colleges have been boasting 90%+ placement within 3 months from graduation. The average remuneration given to students from these 2 schools is comparable to that of other top European and American b-schools. Taking other factors such as quality of life, climate and culture into account, Spain is an attractive destination to pursue MBA.

But, consider this, majority of the students from these 2 schools are placed in Latin America or Spain. Given the current state of Spanish economy how wise it is to go to IE or IESE? Let me share few points raised by John Mauldin in his newsletter about Spanish economy:

1. Is Spain a second Japan in making? Spanish banks are in big trouble and so is Spanish economy. Why? Because Spain has as much unsold houses as US has {but US is approx 6 times bigger}, Spain is only 10% of EU but it accounted for 30% of newly built houses in Europe since 2000. Most of these houses were financed through foreign capital and with the prevailing financial crisis the things will worsen.

2. There is an 850% rise in outstanding loans in last 8 years given to Spanish housing developers. The current outstanding loan amounts to well over 50% of Spain's GDP {near;y 470 bn euros}. And most of this will go bad, Can you imagine the fate of Spanish banks if most of these loans go bad?

3. Unemployment in Spain is well over 17% {4 million Spaniards are unemployed}, govt might make policies which could make it difficult for international students to get jobs in Spain {85% of class in IE is International}

4. Spain might land up in a situation similar to what Japan landed in 1992, but Japan had 3% GDP surplus and Spain has a deficit of 10%.

Given the current state of Spanish economy i would refrain from applying to Spanish b-schools until and unless i dont give a sh** to employment post MBA.

Tuesday, September 1

The final Grand Slam of the year began yesterday, and Fedex cruised easily into the next round. He toyed with Devin Britton and the match was looking more like a warm up session for Federer. Fedex was hardly putting his 100% and was broken by Britton a couple of times but that could hardly prevent Federer from winning the match in straight sets. I would love to see Fedex serve better in coming matches otherwise it could cost him against some of the good players.

Another player who caught my eye was John Isner, his serve is as good as it can be. If Isner can work on his movement on the court then he has got the potential to be among the top 5. The way Isner came back in second set was a delight to watch.

There were no upsets on day 1 of US open. and i am eager to watch Nadal play his first match in the flushing meadows. I hope he regains his form and makes it to the final against Roger.